ACTION REACTION – 100 YEARS OF KINETIC ART at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam

I always think there is something very 1960s about kinetic art, it’s all very psychedelic – the sort of thing you’d experience on an LSD trip, or so they tell me. However, the dominant, most spectacular pieces on show in this very thorough and comprehensive exhibition are fairly modern, with lots of neon tubes and digitally controlled three dimensional objects.

But there is nothing new about kinetic art, op art or whatever else you care to call it. Marcel Duchamp was doing stuff nearly one hundred years ago, Alexander Calder’s mobiles were in every interior décor magazine in the fifties and Victor Vasarely prints or posters adorned High Street picture shops and the walls of student digs throughout the sixties and seventies. Bridget Riley was one of the mainstays and innovators of Swinging London.

That’s the thing about kinetic art, you don’t need to know anything about art to appreciate or enjoy it – as the dozens of kids running round this exhibition having fun will happily testify. There were lots of fans blowing things and lots and lots of mirrors, some providing fairground-like distortions, others sending you optically into a bottomless pit. There were darkened rooms with ever-changing kaleidoscopic images and there was a series of three plain, brightly lit rooms which only varied in the colour of the lighting.

It’s all very clever – but art and cleverness are not synonymous. In fact the two are usually mutually exclusive. There is something a bit nerdy about this kinetic art in all its forms and guises. It’s all too intellectual, too mechanical and precise, too many calculations and slide rules involved and too much meticulous repetition in its execution. It always strikes me as superficial, lacking soul and insight which, to most people, are prerequisites for art.

But if you just look at the exhibits as clever, fun things then you won’t be disappointed and you’ll really enjoy them. They are clever and they are exquisitely made and they will impress you – but not in the same way that, say, David Hockney or Anslem Kiefer will. These pieces won’t give you any great insights into the human condition or move you. They have no hidden depth and they won’t make you feel anything – except giddy perhaps. Michael Hasted 23rd October 2018

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Welcome to ArtsTalk Magazine Holland

Launched in June 2017, we are the sister publication of StageTalk Magazine in the UK and provide previews, reviews and information, in English, for theatres, art exhibitions, concerts, opera etc, concentrating on cities in south west Netherlands (Noord/Zuid Holland and Utrecht regions). Each venue, museum or gallery has its own page with information and a link to its website. The site is updated regularly and information is always coming in so there is always something new to discover or read about.

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1st June marks an important milestone in the struggle against the coronavirus as far as the arts are concerned. Finally, after two months of lockdown, performance spaces, galleries and museums open their doors to the public – with very tight restrictions and controls. For museums, especially the big ones in Amsterdam like the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh, it will mean one is able to look at the pictures in a calm and leisurely fashion

EXTRACURRICULAR

by Parikrama Rai of Victory Art in Rotterdam.
The current pandemic has presented us with many challenges: one of which is to stay connected with the world despite being locked in our quickly shrinking homes. The internet has, however, been a blessing during this dark time. For us art enthusiasts especially, it has given us a connection to the inspiring world of art from a safe distance.

NEWS UPDATE

We will bring you relevant news about the Coronavirus situation in the Netherlands, The Hague area in particular, gleaned from various Dutch sources thanks to Omroep West and DutchBuzz.

Headlines for Wednesday, 3rd June

GGD CORONA TESTING LOCATION OPENS IN NOOTDORP

Public Health Minister, Hugo de Jonge, will officially open an outdoor corona testing centre in Nootdorp today. As of Monday this week, anyone with signs of the coronavirus can apply for the test. If you have signs of the coronavirus, you can make an appointment for the test by phoning 0800-1202.. . . .

The ArtsTalk Podcast

Each week ArtsTalk Magazine editor Michael Hasted presents a podcast focusing on cultural events in and around The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

We meet Brazilian dancer and choreographer SAMIR CALIXTO about his work at the Korzo Theatre in The Hague and there is a song from Canadian singer and performance artist RONLEY TEPER. We talk to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen director SJAREL EX about The Depot, an annexe to the museum which will be opening next year. . . .

BOOKS & LITERARY EVENTS

Paolo Giordano won Italy’s premier literary award at the age of twenty six with his very first novel, The Solitude of Prime Numbers. Written in between the completion of his undergraduate degree and his PhD in Physics, he would go on to complete his doctorate but then devoted himself to writing.